LogFAQs > #942186605

pyresword posted...

So I've been seeing a lot of fear-mongering on Twitter about the fact that Trump appears to have (partially) cut the CDC out of reporting COVID data. Have people been able to figure out how justified this is?

It obviously makes for a bad headline, but the CDC themselves seem to be saying that the motion makes sense. And the particulars that I've found seem to suggest that this is a legitimate attempt to increase the efficiency of the nation's healthcare response, and would not even be effective at surpressing broader information on virus spread from the public if that were the goal:

Quote from this news article: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/coronavirus-data-funneled-cdc-sparking-worries-71805842

Does anyone who is more informed on what this change actually does have a different understanding than mine?

I think that one of the biggest offenses from this is that data that was previously publicly available is now removed or inaccessible. It's also dystopian because if you'll recall early on in this disaster, an independent researcher began identifying cases around Seattle even as official sources refused to acknowledge those cases, iirc.

I can accept that there might be benefits going forward - if we didn't already have years of proof of this administration lying to protect themselves.

Finally, I saw that the data would now be handled by a private company that "won" a no contest bid from the hhs and has links to the trump family. So yeah, can't say i have any faith in anything that will come out of it!

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~Peaf~